One Girl and her Story- A Beatles fanfic
by PaperbackWriterNo.9
Summary: Danielle, 15, a waitress working in the Indra Club, Hamburg. One day she hears a new band is coming from Liverpool, some group called- The Beatles. Danielle has never heard of him but little does she know that those 5 lads would change her life forever!
1. The Hamburg Years: Chapter 1

Danielle looked into the cracked mirror; her hand shook as she tugged the fine comb through her matted dark copper curls. Tilting her head sideways she looked into the frosted glass surveying her pale face; doe-brown eyes, Cupid's bow lips and a straight curved nose. A woman coughing behind her broke her trance. She dragged her eyes away from the mirror and scuffled out of the Bambi Kino's bathrooms, hastily glancing at the clock overhead. "Crap!" she thought, "I'm late for work". She grabbed her coat and ran out the door, jumped on her bicycle and peddled quickly over to the Indra club.

Born on the 22nd of November 1944, she was only 15 years old but living by herself in Hamburg in the infamous St. Pauli quarters. She was born in Manchester but sent as an eight year old to live with an aunty in Hanover, West Germany. Her skin still bared the scars her aunt had bestowed on her as punishment for her "wrong doing".

At the age of 12 she ran away, stealing 100DM from her aunt and getting the first train she saw…which lead her to Hamburg. Stumbling around Hamburg she found the St. Pauli quarters and eventually the Bambi Kino. Her "bedroom" was a small broom-cupboard big enough for a fold-up bed, a single light bulb looming overhead- casting a dreary shadow across the room and a small bedside locker. Her rent was 15DM a week and she was content, so long as she was away from her devil "aunt" life was good.

She reached the club and carefully hiding her bicycle behind a large rubbish-bin she stepped into the club. Walking into the backroom, she hung up her coat and put on her tatty apron, while scurrying out of the room she almost walking straight into Bruno Koschmider, the club's owner. He had his arms folded and was looking down on her-eyes narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed, his limp greasy hair stuck to his forehead. Danielle was stunned; generally he never came into the club except for on Thursday's when she would get her weekly wages of 40DM a week for waitressing.

He opened his mouth and in his harsh gruff voice said "Da kommt 'ne Band aus England, die spielen im Club. Von denen spricht keiner deutsch, du wirst alles übersetzen müssen, was ich denen sage". There was a band coming from England, who didn't speak English and she would have to translate whatever Bruno told them. Danielle was ecstatic finally somebody from home who could tell her how everything was going on and who could speak English! Although she spoke fluent German, English was her last reminder of home.

He continued talking "Die sind in der gleichen Unterkunft wie du und ich erwarte, dass du denen die Gegend zeigst, die sollen sich wie zuhause fühlen." The poor band was staying in the Bambi Kino as well and she would be forced to show them around the area were and to make them feel at home. "Well….at least I'll have some new people to talk to" she thought.

Concluding his short speech he said "Halte sie beisammen und schau, dass sie sich anständig benehmen. Ich will nicht, dass die oder ich in Schwierigkeiten geraten." She would have to look after the band and made sure they got up to no bother or trouble, a feat which would be easier said than done. Finishing up his speech, he rubbed his forehead with a handkerchief and waddled out of the club's main entrance. Danielle smiled to herself and began pouring cheap, watered-down beer at the bar, "I wonder what the band will be like" she thought to herself feeling beer slosh over the top of the glass. She put all thoughts of the new visitors out of her head as the usual clientele of sailors and prostitutes began pouring in.


	2. The Hamburg Years: Chapter 2

The band was due to arrive the next day-the 17th of August. Their name 'The Beatles' made Danielle snigger, 'peedles' was slang for penis and all the publicans who viewed the advertisement for The Beatles laughed heartily. Chuckling to herself Danielle cycled to the Indra waiting to see the group who had come all the way from Liverpool. As she walked into the club the sight of five disgruntled boys looked at her, Bruno was standing next to converse but the confused and dazed look on the lads' faces said it all.

Danielle strolled up to the boys and Bruno, in an aggravated voice spat out to her "Sag ihnen, dass sie hier vom 17. August bis zum 16. Oktober arbeiten werden". Danielle looked into the boys nervous eyes, "you are to work here from the 17th of August to the 16th of October". She glanced at Bruno again "Sie müssen wochentags nachts 4 1/2 Stunden und an Samstagen und Sonntagen 6 Stunden arbeiten", "you will work for 4 and a ½ hours on weekdays and 6 hours on Saturdays and Sundays". The boys looked at each other with astonished faces then quickly looked at Danielle again. Bruno continued "Sie werden heute Nacht in meiner Wohnung übernachten und ich werde sie morgen zu ihren Unterkünften bringen.", tonight you will be staying in Mr. Koschmider's flat and tomorrow he will bring you to your accommodation. In conclusion Bruno said "Ihre Bezahlung wird 30DM pro Person und Tag betragen", "each of you will earn 30DM per day". Koschmider then gestured to the stage and the boys dragged their equipment to their new working quarters

"Four and a ½ hours John!" Danielle heard one of the boys say "how are we going to do that?" The bloke who Danielle assumed was John didn't answer he just calmly took his guitar out of its case and strummed a few strings gazing blankly at the floor. The boy who questioned John had chocolate brown eyes curved down at the corners; his short hair was pulled back off his face in a quiff, a few strands hung delicately over his forehead. He was quite good looking and Danielle hastily looked at the floor in case he saw her staring at him. A different boy sat at the edge of the stage calmly smoking a cigarette, he looked the youngest of the five and had thick eyebrows, prominent cheekbones and long hair combed back like a turban. He appeared to be in a dream- his eyes glazed over.

The sound of feedback from guitars being plugged into amps brought Danielle back to her senses; she went to the boys and asked them if they wanted anything to drink before they started performing in an hour. "Do ye 'ave a scotch?" John asked. "We have Holsten Pilsener or water, pick your choice" Danielle snapped "where does he think he's going with scotch?" she thought. "I'll have none of that Nazi shite", she heard John mutter as he bent down next to his amp. "Don't mind him" another boy called out his hair combed back in another quiff (these lads were obviously very original and unique), "that Holsten stuff will be good". He had black thick-rimmed Ray Ban sunglasses; a long face with a pointed chin, almost feminine features. He stretched his hand out to her "I'm Stuart". Danielle smiled at him and answered his hand shake, "Danielle" she replied, a shy grin creeping across her face. His light Scottish accent was pleasant to the ear unlike John's harsh Scouse growl.

A large crash of cymbals filled the room "for fuck sake Pete", Danielle heard John scoff as the poor lad, Pete, hurried to pick up his fallen cymbals. John shot daggers at him with his eyes and then quickly pulled out a packet of cigarettes, lit one and took a long drag. Pete was different from the others more sombre, yet strangely handsome, his hands shook as he tried to keep the cymbals upright. He bit his lower lip and continued assembling his equipment.

The boy with the down-turned eyes walked up to Danielle. "Hello", he said in a slightly-posh upper class voice, "I'm Paul" Danielle introduced herself again and then quickly remembered that they had ordered five drinks. She scurried over to the taps and quickly pulled 5 pints. John who appeared to despise the idea of drinking "Nazi shite" downed it in one and slammed his glass on the table. Danielle looked him straight in the eyes, he gave her a cheeky grin proceeded to leap off his chair and walked to the nearest mirror, pulling a comb out of his jacket pocket and began combing his hair. "The nerve of him", Danielle thought shaking her head.

The boy sitting at the edge of the stage, gave a small lopsided grin to Danielle when she handed him his drink, "thanks" he said in a quiet voice. "I'm George" he said in a thick drawl. He gingerly accepted the drink took a sip and placed it back down on the stage, playing a little riff on the guitar which was seated on his lap. A quick smile darted across Danielle's face and she brought the next glass to Paul who took the glass off her with a quick "thanks" as he quickly jotted down something on a piece of paper.

The final beers were for Stuart and Pete who were seated next to each other, Stuart was examining his fingers which looked cut and split while Pete quietly played a small beat on his drum. Stuart happily accepted the beer with a smile and a "thanks love" and Pete quietly mumbled a "thank you". "He doesn't talk a lot" Danielle thought to herself.

The boys had just finished their pints when Bruno bustled into their room and ushered them to start playing as the club would be officially opening in 5 minutes. The boys all stood awkwardly on stage, hustled in a small group and began playing. The loud cacophonous noise filled the club as the regulars (all 10 of them) strolled into the club. Apart from singing their songs the boys were completely quiet and you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife between the awkwardness of the boys and the audience.

About half way through their set, Mrs. Sauer (who lived above the Indra) yelled at Bruno to tell the boys to "turn down that racket!" Danielle quickly hurried to the stage and told Stuart to turn down their amps or they'd be kicked out, they reluctantly turned down their amps and Mrs. Sauer marched out of the room with her hair in curlers. "Ratty little bitch", she heard John mutter, stifling giggles Danielle handed drinks to the customers at the club.

The boys were wrecked at the end of the 4 and a ½ hours and trudged off the stage, half asleep. Bruno led them out of the club to his flat and Danielle cycled back to the Bambi Kino into her little cupboard bedroom, dressed in her cotton nightdress and slumped into bed, thinking of them 5 boys from Liverpool.


	3. The Hamburg Years: Chapter 3

The next morning, wiping the sleep from her eyes, Danielle trotted to The Indra (she had woken up to her bike's tire having been punctured with a nail by vandals-pricks). Five blearily-eyed Beatles looked at her, their hair tousled and dark-shadows under their eyes-they looked like something out of a horror film. They were all looking at their feet like schoolboys being scolded for throwing paper airplanes; all averted their gaze from Danielle when she entered the room.

Bruno Koschmider was standing there, arms crossed and his teeth gritted, his stern look said it all- he wasn't impressed. He spat at the boys in German "You are all disgraces, how dare you play so shoddy in my club, I don't pay ye to play in my clubs as shit as ye did last night. You have one night to impress me and I swear to God if ye play as bad as ye did last night I'll ship ye back to England on the first ferry! He spat at the ground to reinforce his claim, the boys all looked at each other anxiously- whatever he said, it wasn't good!

Danielle merely looked at the boys and whispered "you need to do a better job or else you'll be sacked" she glanced at the bulging vein in Koschmider's temple, "immediately" she whispered. The boys shared an anxious glance at one another, their eyes filled with fear they had just arrived in Germany and now they were going to be sent back to England? Danielle felt their pain; they would just be one of another myriad of band which had tried to conquer Hamburg and failed. But yet, she saw something different in this band, they had something the other bands hadn't- a certain 'charisma' an 'oomph' whatever you'd call it but Danielle knew they were special.

"Mach schau, mach schau!' were Bruno's departing words as he left The Indra. John immediately turned around and looked at the others "You heard the man lads, 'mach schau', I told Mimi I'm earning £100 a week here, we can't leave now". Despite his words of encouragement, he looked exhausted as did the others; he turned to Danielle "do you got anything that will keep us awake? We can't 'mach schau' if we're bleedin' wrecked every night". Danielle looked at him and a smile crept across her face, "I've got just the thing", she smirked.


End file.
